The Fox in the Forest: Why Your Witch Lost the Trick

The Witch is not permission to ignore the suit led. In The Fox in the Forest, a 9 uses its printed suit when you decide which cards you may play. Only after both cards have been played does a lone Witch count as trump for deciding the winner. That distinction explains both an unavailable play and a surprising result.

There are two other easy traps: two played Witches cancel each other's special treatment, and a Witch showing as the decree card does not count as one of them. Count the cards actually played into the trick, not every 9 you can see on screen.

These examples use the standard competitive rules in Dire Wolf's digital game. Its Challenges can have customized rules, so read the challenge conditions before applying a standard-match example.

First decide what you are allowed to play

The first card establishes the lead suit. If you have a card of that suit, you must follow it. If you have none, you can play another suit. The Witch does not change this legal-play check.

Suppose Moons are trump and your opponent leads the 8 of Moons. You hold the 2 of Moons and the 9 of Keys. You must play the Moon card. The Key Witch is not a Moon while you are choosing a legal response, even though a lone Witch would count as trump when resolving a trick.

The same principle works in the other direction. If your opponent leads the 9 of Keys, you follow Keys if you can. You do not follow Moons merely because Moons are trump and that Witch may later be treated as a Moon.

A legal response can still lose to the Witch

Keep Moons as trump. Your opponent leads the 9 of Keys, and you hold the 10 of Keys plus the 11 of Moons. You must follow with the 10 of Keys. When the winner is determined, the single Witch is treated as a trump 9, so it beats your non-trump 10.

The 11 of Moons would be a stronger trump, but it was not a legal response while you could follow Keys. Separate “this card would win” from “I am allowed to play this card.”

Printed suit decides whether you can follow. The Witch's special trump treatment comes later, when deciding who won.

A lone Witch is a trump 9, not an unbeatable card

If exactly one of the two played cards is a 9, treat that card as belonging to the current trump suit. Its rank is still 9. A higher trump can beat it.

For example, Moons are trump, the leader plays the 9 of Keys, and the follower has no Keys. The follower may legally play the 10 of Moons. That 10 beats the Witch: both are treated as trumps for the result, and 10 is higher than 9.

If the follower instead played the 6 of Moons, the Witch would win. Do not apply a rule that “a naturally printed trump always beats a transformed Witch.” The Witch is treated as trump for this comparison, so compare ranks when both cards are trump.

With two played Witches, use their printed suits

The Witch ability applies only when the trick contains one 9. With two 9s, neither transforms. The current trump suit wins if one of the two printed suits is trump; otherwise the lead suit wins.

Consider these two versions of the same play. The leader plays the 9 of Keys, and a follower with no Keys plays the 9 of Bells:

• If Moons are trump, neither Witch is trump. The 9 of Keys wins because Keys were led.
• If Bells are trump, the 9 of Bells wins because it is printed in the trump suit.

There is no unresolved tie just because both cards show 9. Their suits determine the result. This is also why the second Witch can be a useful response when you are allowed to play it, but it does not automatically win.

A 9 in the decree does not cancel a played Witch

The decree card tells you the trump suit. It is outside the trick, which consists of the two cards played by the players. Its rank and ability are not an extra card in the contest.

Suppose the decree is the 9 of Moons. The leader plays the 9 of Keys, and a follower with no Keys plays the 6 of Moons. There is only one Witch in this trick: the 9 of Keys. It counts as a trump 9 and beats the Moon 6.

Identify the decree separately, then count the 9s among the two played cards only. A second 9 elsewhere on screen is not enough to cancel the Witch.

One Witch in the two-card trick. The decree's suit sets trump; its 9 does not cancel the played Witch.

The Fox changes trump for the current trick

The 3, or Fox, can exchange the decree with a card from its player's hand. This happens immediately when the Fox is played, before the next card is played or the winner is decided. The exchange is optional, and the resulting trump suit applies to the current trick.

Here is a legal way for a low Fox to beat a high card:

1. The decree is the 4 of Moons, so Moons are initially trump.
2. The leader plays the 8 of Moons.
3. The follower has no Moons and plays the 3 of Keys.
4. The follower uses the Fox to swap a held 11 of Keys with the decree.
5. Keys are now trump. The 3 of Keys wins over the 8 of Moons.

The follower had no Moons when choosing the response, so the Fox was legal. Receiving the old Moon decree afterward does not retroactively make that play illegal.

Do not confuse the new trump suit with a new lead suit. If someone leads the 3 of Keys and changes the decree to a Moon, the other player still has to follow Keys if possible. The Fox changed which suit is strongest, not which suit was led.

If the app rejects a card, also check the Monarch

The 11, or Monarch, adds a restriction when it is led. A follower who has the lead suit must play either that suit's 1 or the highest-ranked card they hold in that suit. It does not allow an off-suit Witch to bypass following suit.

For example, after an 11 of Moons lead, a hand containing Moon 1, Moon 4 and Moon 8 can respond with the 1 or 8, but not the 4. If the follower has no Moons, the ordinary freedom to play another suit still applies. The extra restriction belongs to a leading Monarch, not a Monarch played second.

Check a surprising result in this order

• Identify the mode and any custom Challenge condition.
• Find the printed lead suit and the cards the follower could legally play.
• Resolve any Fox exchange and read the resulting decree suit.
• Count Witches among the two played cards only.
• With one Witch, treat it as a trump 9. With two, keep both printed suits.
• Compare the highest trump, or the highest lead-suit card if neither is trump.

If those checks do not explain the result, record the decree, both played cards, which card was led, your relevant hand cards and the game mode. A screenshot that distinguishes the decree from the two-card trick is much more useful than “my 9 lost.” Include your app version when emailing support@direwolfdigital.com, the support address listed on the game’s Google Play page.

Sources and further reading